{"289821":{"#nid":"289821","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Synlab Inspired by African Map and Artifacts Exhibition","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe similarities between a lukasa board, a cultural memory artifact used by the Luba people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a personal computer are amazing. Or you can go further and say that equally amazing are the similarities between a lukasa board and a cell phone. Or if you want to go even further, you can say how amazing the similarities are between a lukasa board and a multi-user collaborative video game. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf you want to see one, go to the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ipst.gatech.edu\/amp\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERobert C. Williams Paper Museum\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E at Georgia Tech to the \u201cMapping Place: Africa Beyond Paper\u201d exhibit.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe concept of the lukasa board fell onto the fertile ground of Georgia Tech\u0027s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/synlab.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESynaethetics Laboratory\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, better known as the \u201cSynlab,\u201d which the university established to explore opportunities provided by new media and to support creative practices that bridge the physical and digital words.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA team of Georgia Tech professors and students\u0026nbsp; began to discuss the potential of implementing some of the traditional uses of the lukasa boards technologically.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAmong those involved were \u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty\/bio\/knoespel_1\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EKenneth J. Knoepsel\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E, the professor of engineering and liberal arts; \u003Cstrong\u003EYves Abrioux\u003C\/strong\u003E, director of the PhD program in humanities at the University of Paris 8, Vincennes-St. Denis and \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty\/bio\/mazalek\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAli Mazalek\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, who was director of the Synlab before moving to Ryerson University in Toronto where she is the Canadian research chair in digital media and innovation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt wasn\u0027t long before they had the idea of developing a digital platform with an application enabling the making and telling of stories electronically. Instead of gawking at the lukasa board or at the maps on display, visitors will be able to transmit their own experiences and memories onto the platform reminiscent of how the lukasa boards have been used traditionally.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe exhibition is part of the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.africaatlanta.org\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EAfrica Atlanta 2014\u003C\/a\u003E program that has been organized by \u003Cstrong\u003EJacqueline Royster\u003C\/strong\u003E, dean of Georgia Tech\u0027s \u003Cstrong\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/strong\u003E, and Genevi\u00e8ve Verbeek, consul general of Belgium, the current consul general of Belgium in Atlanta. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYou can read the full article at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.globalatlanta.com\/article\/26792\/georgia-techs-synlab-inspired-by-african-map-and-artifacts-exhibition\/#largeBanner\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EGlobal Atlanta.com\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe concept of the lukasa board, a cultural artifact of the Luba people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, fell onto the fertile ground of Georgia Tech\u0027s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/synlab.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESynaethetics Laboratory\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, better known as the \u201cSynlab,\u201d which the university established to explore opportunities provided by new media and to support creative practices that bridge the physical and digital words.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The concept of the lukasa board, a cultural artifact of the Luba people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, fell onto the fertile ground of Georgia Tech\u0027s Synaethetics Laboratory, better known as the \u201cSynlab.\u201d"}],"uid":"27889","created_gmt":"2014-04-10 13:05:54","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:11","author":"Beth Godfrey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-04-10T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-04-10T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"289811":{"id":"289811","type":"image","title":"Lukasa Board","body":null,"created":"1449244274","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:51:14","changed":"1475894986","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:46","alt":"Lukasa Board","file":{"fid":"199204","name":"lukasa.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/lukasa_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/lukasa_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":24203,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/lukasa_0.jpg?itok=KtJ_Zfai"}}},"media_ids":["289811"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.globalatlanta.com\/article\/26792\/georgia-techs-synlab-inspired-by-african-map-and-artifacts-exhibition\/","title":"Read the full article"}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[{"id":"42921","name":"Exhibitions"}],"keywords":[{"id":"60031","name":"Africa Atlanta 2014"},{"id":"169310","name":"Synlab"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}